One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University

1918
April 23: The first shipment of U.S. Liberty aircraft engines arrived in France.
April 29: Lt. Edward V. Rickenbacker, who later became the leading U.S. ace
of World War I with 26 victories, shot down his first airplane.
May 5: The 1st Pursuit Group was organized at Toul, France, to coordinate
the 94th and 95th Aero Squadrons. Now the 1st Operations Group, 1st
Fighter Wing, it is the oldest USAF group in existence.
May 11: The first American-built DH–4, equipped with a Liberty engine,
arrived in France for service with the American Expeditionary Forces.
The DeHavilland DH–4. Many U.S. Air Service pilots in France during World
War I flew this British-designed airplane.
May 15: Army pilots began flying the government’s first permanent airmail
route—Washington, D.C., to New York.
May 19: Raoul G. Lufbery, who earned 17 aerial victories with the Lafayette
Escadrille before transferring to the American Expeditionary Forces, lost
his life in combat. He had passed much of his knowledge of aerial warfare
to fledgling American fighter pilots such as Eddie Rickenbacker.
May 20: Army aviation was separated from the Signal Corps with the formation
of two new War Department bureaus—the Division of Military
Aeronautics, under Maj. Gen. William L. Kenly, and the Bureau of Aircraft
Production, under John D. Ryan, who was named director nine
days later.
May 24: The War Department recognized the Division of Military Aeronautics
and the Bureau of Aircraft Production as constituents of the Army
Air Service.
May 29: Brig. Gen. Mason M. Patrick became chief of Air Service, American
Expeditionary Forces.
17